Pygmies and Villagers, Ritual or Play? On the Place of Contrasting Modes of Metacommunication in Social Systems

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2480912
AutoresE Ben-Ari (0000-0003-3559-4622, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, autor de correspondencia), Eyal Ben‐ari
Año1987
Volumen10
Número2
Páginas167-185
Fecha de publicación1987-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSymbolic Interaction (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0195-6086 • E-ISSN: 1533-8665
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/si.1987.10.2.167
OpenAlexW2093203858
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas28

How are social activities and relations maintained despite actors holding to divergent definitions of these activities and relations? This is explored through a reexamination of an ethnographic account of two groups that participate in joint activities but interpret them differently. The account is that of the Mbuti Pygmies and their neighboring Bantu villagers as described by Colin Turnbull. It is argued is that the maintenance of continued interactions between such groups is facilitated by the grounding of the divergent interpretations of these interactions in contrasting modes of metacommunication: ritual and play. This article concludes with an exploration of some theoretical and comparative issues raised by the analysis

Bantu languages · Epistemology · Ethnography · Linguistics · Social relation · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Cross-Cultural and Social Analysis · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Gender Studies